Early forms of bowling can be traced back to ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. Indeed, evidence of bowling has been dated to 3,000 to 5,000 years ago and earlier. In one early game, stone objects were tossed as close as possible to other stone objects. Popular with Roman soldiers, this game evolved into what is now called bocce, or outdoor bowling. Tossing or rolling objects, such as balls made of corn husks wrapped in leather or another material, to knock down other objects similarly has very early origins. However, the first standardized rules for pin bowling were not developed until the late 1800's.
Modern bowling is dominated by tenpin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling. In each, ten pins are set up, and the players roll balls down a wooden or synthetic pathway or lane to knock down as many pins as possible. While tenpin and candlepin bowling differ in pin shape and rules, each style of bowling uses the same pin configuration and the same pin numbering system. In each, the bowling pin rack consists of ten pins arranged in an equilateral triangle with a first row formed by the 1 or head pin, a second row formed by the 2 and 3 pins, a third row formed by the 4, 5, and 6 pins, and a fourth row formed by the 7, 8, 9, and 10 pins.
When the bowling pins are properly arranged, the pin positions and relative locations are precise and consistent. The center-to-center equilateral triangle has 36-inch sides such that the distance from the center of the head pin to the centers of each of the 7 and 10 pins is 36 inches and the distance between the centers of the 7 and 10 pins is likewise 36 inches. Each pin is 12 inches from each adjacent pin. Pins aligned one directly behind the other, such as the 2 and 8 pins, the 3 and 9 pins, and the 1 and 5 pins, are spaced 20.75 inches apart. The distances from the back row of pins to the back of the lane and from the 7 and 10 pins to the gutters are similarly exact.
Consistent and precise positioning of the pins at setup is critical to bowling. For instance, a well-placed ball striking between the head pin and the 2 or 3 pin will produce a chain reaction of collisions between the ball and the pins and between pins and their surroundings that may knock down all ten pins to produce a strike if on the first ball of the frame. If the pins are incorrectly set, chain reactions will be upset and consistent and reliable results from even well-placed impacts cannot be achieved.
In the early days of organized bowling, pins were manually set to their correct position by a pinsetter, or pinspotter, who also cleared fallen pins as appropriate and even returned bowling balls to players. Since the work was low-pay, typically part-time, and demanding manual labor, it was often done by teenage and even younger boys. Thus, the term “pinboy” came to be used as another name for the job.
When pins were set by pinboys, the area above the pin deck was left open, which was advantageous for a number of reasons. For instance, bowling pins and balls will often undergo violent collisions, which can lead to pins and balls bouncing in the air from the deck. With open space above the pin deck, the pins and balls can move and land naturally without outside influence. Moreover, the open area above the pin deck contributed to a feeling of free and uncluttered space for the bowler, easier exposure to ambient lighting, and improved viewing of the bowling action, particularly from areas above and around the specific bowling lane in use.
However, the manual setting of bowling pins is inherently subject to human error and individual human pin setting tendencies. Incorrectly set pins detract from proper and expected collision characteristics and chain reactions, and differences between pinsetters mean that a bowler in a given lane might have different bowling experiences and results. Still further, manual pinsetting can be time consuming thereby leading to waiting for bowlers and reduced revenue for bowling alleys with each string of bowling requiring longer time periods. Worst of all, heavy bowling balls sending the pins flying through the air would frequently injure the waiting pinboys. Good pinboys were often in short supply, and pinboys soon demanded higher wages for their hazardous work.
In response to the foregoing shortcomings and other factors, a number of inventors set about designing machines to mechanize pin setting. For instance, with U.S. Pat. No. 1,597,973, Ernest Kedenskoog disclosed a Pin Spotter with a pin setter frame having a plurality of pivoted pockets that raised and lowered vertically over the bowling alley to deposit pins on the bowling alley in a predetermined pattern. Gottfried Schmidt, himself a bowler and machinery designer, was awarded a number of patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,605 for a Bowling Pin Setting Apparatus, which issued on Jul. 23, 1940 based on an application filed in 1936. That mechanical pinsetter became the AMF (American Machine & Foundry Company) pinsetter, the standard for the industry. With these and other developments, the pinboy was largely relegated to history.
The mechanical pinsetters of Kedenskoog, Schmidt, and others achieved their fundamental goal: pinboys and manual pinsetting were replaced with mechanized pinsetting systems that could function continuously, consistently, and with reliable speed. While a number of patents relating to mechanical pinsetters followed over the ensuing decades, there has been remarkably little development in the field over the past several decades. The essential functionality of the mechanical pinsetter has remained unchanged; a pin setting frame or table hovers above the pin deck, often concealed from the bowler by a curtain or false wall. The pin setting table lowers into position to dispense and, as necessary, to lift pins between ball rolls. Where pins remain standing after a given shot in ten-pin bowling, the pin setting table engages and lifts the remaining pins to permit a clearing of the pin deck by a sweeper mechanism.
In the mechanical pinsetters of the current state of the art, a hulking, complicated mechanism must occupy the space just above the pin deck, leaving only a relatively shallow location for the pins to stand. Gone are the open areas of the pinboy days, sacrificed in favor of mechanization. Consequently, pins and balls bouncing in the air from the deck can strike the pinsetting table, thereby altering the natural trajectory of the projectile and potentially damaging the machine. The area above the pin deck necessarily takes on a cluttered feel with the standing pins exposed only through the visual slot between the pin deck and the pinsetting table or the curtain or false wall concealing the same. The pins enjoy little exposure to ambient light and must be separately illuminated, if at all. Still further, observers, particularly those not directly in line with the active alley, have their views of the bowling action obscured.
With a knowledge of the foregoing, the present inventors appreciated that there is a need in the art of bowling for a major shift in the systems and methods of pinsetting. Rather than continuing to labor under the premise that the pinsetting table must occupy and overwhelm the volume above the pin deck and that the pins must be arranged in the pinsetter in their final, triangular configuration, it would be desirable to provide a mechanized pinsetting system and method that leaves the volume above the pin deck open as in the era of pinboys while providing for consistent, accurate, and rapid pinsetting as enabled by mechanization.